摘要:
The present teachings provide methods for detection of metal silicide defects in a microelectronic device. In an exemplary embodiment, a portion of a semiconductor substrate may be positioned in a field of view of an inspection tool. The method also includes producing (120) a voltage contrast image of the portion, wherein the image is obtained using a collection field that is stronger than an incident field. The method also includes using (130) the voltage contrast image to determine a metal silicide defect in a microelectronic device. Other embodiments include an inspection system (200) for detecting metal silicide defects and a method of manufacturing an integrated circuit (300).
摘要:
Methods (102) are presented for protecting copper structures (26) from corrosion in the fabrication of semiconductor devices (2), wherein a thin semiconductor or copper-semiconductor alloy corrosion protection layer (30) is formed on an exposed surface (26a) of a copper structure (26) prior to performance of metrology operations (206), so as to inhibit corrosion of the copper structure (26). All or a portion of the corrosion protection layer (30) is then removed (214) in forming an opening in an overlying dielectric (44) in a subsequent interconnect layer.